Places to Eat Before You......

I had seen the book "1000 Places to See Before You Die" in book stores. One thousand seemed too many, if it had been 100 or 200 I might have bought it out of curiosity to see how many I have seen.

But twice in the last few months I have been in Roodfood places (Cattlemen’s and Obrycki’s) that had signs on the wall that said they were listed in "1000 Places to See Before You Die." So I check it out at the library and these are the places it lists under Culinary Experiences – United States:

Arthur Bryant Barbecue, Missouri Arun’s, Illinois Bouley and Danube, New York City Carnegie Delicatessen, New York City Cattlemen’s Steakhouse, Oklahoma Charlie Trotter’s, Illinois Chez Panisse, California Daniel, New York City Elizabeth on 37th, Georgia Four Seasons, New York City Italians, New York City Jean Georges, New York City Joe’s Stone Crab, Florida Le Bernardin, New York City Legal Sea Foods, Massachusetts Low Country cuisine of South Carolina Mansion on Turtle Creek, Texas Memphis’s rib joints, Tennessee Mrs. Wilkes’s Boarding House, Georgia New Orleans’s restaurants, Louisiana Nobu, New York City Obrycki’s Maryland Peter Luger Steakhouse, New York City Philly food, Pennsylvania Pike Place Market, Washington Superdawg, Illinois Union Square Café, New York City Woodman’s of Essex, Massachusetts

Seems a little NYC centric to me. I’ve been to only 15 (as of 1/1/10) even if I count the upstairs café at Chez Panisse.

It's so hard to take those lists too seriously. I've heard the author on NPR a couple of times. It is all extremely subjective.That is not to say that I wouldn't try any of those places if I had the chance. I've only eaten at 4 of them, and I'm glad did.

The problem with lists is that they generally reflect one person's opinion. In the case of the OP's list cited it is clearly NYC centric with a few token other locales which makes me wonder if it was researched but not actually sampled. Maybe the best list going is Buffetbuster's right here in Roadfood.com with the ** denoting his favorite places.

I'm specifically working on pork tenderloin sandwiches and walleye sandwiches, and starting to branch out in pizzas and breakfasts.

Only one place really-Prince's hot chicken in Nashville.While I'd never go to New Haven or within 50 miles of it without trying it, Pepe's pizza's appearance just doesn't look like something I'd need to try. Ditto with lobster on a hot dog bun or a burger at Louis Lunch. I'd probably want try one of those Oklahoma fried onion burgers. Now I'd love to return to Maine for lobster, Boston for piss clams, San Francisco for cioppino, Asian food and sourdough, the South for BBQ and good greens, New Mexico for jalapeno pizza and chile burgers, Mid-Illinois for a horseshoe, Louisville for a hot brown, Florida for grouper and sand dabs, the Bahama's for conch 'n bites, Toronto for both pho and those cart sausages downtown, Ottawa for Belgian-style french fries, Boston in Jamaica for jerk, KC and Texas for brisket, Washington State for oysters and clams, New Orleans for muff, Iowa for a pork tenderloin to name just a few.

I've eaten at only a few of these places and I can't say they speak well for the others.

Carnegie Deli? Good, but I don't understand the concept of paying the price of a fine entree for a sandwich you can't eat half of. It's okay on an expense account but I've had equally good deli food in any number of Mom & Pop places in reasonable portions at reasonable prices.

Legal Sea Food? It's slipped with expansion, although it's usually fine for plain New England seafood, but there are better places for that.

Union Square Cafe? Okay, it was a long time ago when the hype first started. It was eminently forgettable then.

Trotter won't starve. He has something going on with Holland American as a member of their "Culinary Council." His contribution to their menus:

Charlie Trotter, winner of 10 James Beard Foundation awards, created sautéed opakapaka, also known as crimson snapper, on a bed of bleeding heart radishes, served with baby turnips stuffed with black trumpet mushrooms, sautéed morel mushrooms and basil-thyme oil. Another featured dish is Trotter’s grilled venison loin with dates served with seasoned quinoa, salsify purée and broccoli rabe.

<<I'm still working on getting from South Jersey to Dilly's Corner and Charlie's pool room>> I'm not sure Dilly's is worth the trip. Sure it's great for it's outdoor ambience (and if it's a weekend its a mob scene on a nice day), but the food is average.

A little! Not only does he list a whole bunch of places in New York City but he doesn't even narrow down any of the other restaurants listed further than their state! The guy's a poster child for NYC arrogance.